Social decline of the Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of an EmpireNovember 7, 2013

The people of China suffered many years of the Ch'in rule. The Han Dynasty brought new laws, tax relief, and social reform. The Han Dynasty ruled China for many years until the year 220 when the Han Dynasty fell because of dynastic succession, bureaucratic corruption, inequitable economic burdens, and moral decline.

There were many different rulers of China. Liu Bang began the Western Han Empire. New laws and social reform were among the many positive changes that Liu Bang made. When Liu Bang died, his wife took control of the empire. Major discord was apparent during her rule and wasn't solved until Liu Che took over the throne. The Dynasty was prosperous under his reign. Liu Che was a great ruler; he adopted Confucianism as the political philosophy and revised the entire government of China. The death of Emperor Wu resulted in loss of unity in the Imperial Court. The succeeding emperors included children who were controlled by parents and guardians. Sadly at that time the Western Han lost it's Mandate of Heaven. The country was no longer under the Han dynasty until Liu Xiu restored the Eastern Han Dynasty. When Liu Xiu died, his son Liu Xang took over ruling the country. Liu Xang was a harsh ruler. When he died the Empress Dowager Deng gained power over the court. The women and the eunuchs used weak, young men as emperors to rule the Dynasty. This caused a power struggle in the Han court causing the empire to fail.

The Han Dynasty not only had problems with dynastic succession; their bureaucratic system became corrupt. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty state Universities, an examination system to educate men was put into effect. However, bureaucratic corruption, land privatization, and bribery caused adverse consequences. The Emperors could barely control the corruption. Confucian scholars did turn against the eunuchs because they were corrupt but the eunuchs still tried to gain power. None of the parties were able to improve the hard lives of the peasants. This caused mass dissention in the government which in time caused it's failure.

The economic burdens were another factor in the fall of the Han Empire. The Han Empire was financially strong. The rich began to find ways to get out of paying taxes, which put the burden on the poor. Farmers and plantation owners did not produce because they did not have the money. The government did not get money because the people who could pay their taxes, cheated. People who were honest, the farmers and plantation owners, didn't have the money to pay, which caused them to be angry. The tax burden and lack of money caused resentment between farmers, plantation workers, and the rich causing the empire to fail.

Source: voices.yahoo.com

You might also like

That Cat Look Mighty Hungry To Me

by mBlaine

So I listened to Ray's show again on Thursday.  By the way, the other show to listen to on KGO is Len Tillum on the weekends. ('I'm a lawya.') I gotta ask that guy for a job one of these days.  But yeah, Ray's show on Thursday wasn't as intense as the night before. There were some good callers. Especially those two women right in a row  the old Brooklyn gal running down the articles in the Nation. She just rocked. Then immediately after her, that woman who was steaming about the effects of the Silicon Valley stock crash reverberating around the world.  At first I couldn't make out what she was saying

80 Theses For A New Peace Camp

by fortheweary

80 Theses for a New Peace Camp
A Manifesto From Gush Shalom
Uri Avnery for Gush Shalom
1. The peace process has collapsedand taken down with it a large part of the Israeli peace camp.
2. Transient circumstances, such as personal or party political matters, failures of leadership, political self-interest, domestic and global political developmentsall these are like foam over the waves. Important as they may be, they cannot adequately explain the peace process's total collapse.
3. The true explanation of this collapse can only be found beneath the surface, at the roots of the historical conflict between the two nations.
4. The Madrid-Oslo process failed because the two sides were seeking to achieve conflicting goals.
5. The goals of each of the two sides emanated from their basic national interests. They were shaped by their hi…

The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman EmpireBook (Praeger)

How to understand Piketty: read him yourself — Oxford StudentThe first is to applaud Piketty's work, construct some grand theory of social decline such as a new gilded age or a transition to oligarchy, and back his proposals for new taxes and regulation of wealth.

Zim: Health and education bounce back — Mail & Guardian OnlineThe scale of the social decline required an equally large-scale national response.

Holyrood Message — Greenock TelegraphAnd this despite the government stating that reversing economic, physical and social decline of communities where market forces alone won't suffice is a top priority.

New Iron App helps bridge the gap between gaming and education — WalesOnlineThe past century has seen the town suffer from relative economic and social decline but there is undoubtedly an economic and cultural renaissance underway.

Major motor skills Children aged 5–7 years old can skip, and have strong ball skills. Fine motor skills Children can colour...

Search for:

It's Interesting...

In the social sciences, the word "clique" is used to describe a group of 2 to 12 (averaging 5 or 6) “persons who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting.” Cliques are distinguished from "crowds" in that their members interact with one another (e.g., hang out together, go shopping, play basketball...